3 Takeaways from Rob Llewellyn’s Digital Transformation Framework

Digital transformation is a top priority for insurance CIOs, yet only 12% consider their organizations to be digitally progressive.

This was the topic of Tuesday’s webinar with Rob Llewellyn, Founder of CXO Transform. On one hand, this statistic is shocking due to how many CIOs prioritize digital transformation. On the other hand, many companies are not ready to undergo a digital transformation. These organizations don’t have the resources they need to undergo such a major change to their business. And this is where Rob’s 10-Point Digital Transformation framework comes into play. As he outlined in the webinar, you can’t dive headfirst into digital transformation.

Three key points to follow on your digital transformation journey

1. Your digital transformation needs to support strategy

One question to ask is how your organization is responding strategically to digital transformation? Are you transforming to defend your position in the market or are you taking a more offensive approach and transforming to disrupt the market?

You also want to figure out how transformational you want your organization to be and what category of transformation your strategic objectives fit into. Are you transforming the business model? The operations? The workforce? Or the products and services you provide your customers?

Just over half of the webinar participants view transforming their business model as the most important area of focus in their digital transformation. This type of transformation requires backing by the CEO and is the highest level of transformation.

Once you figure out the strategic objectives of the company, you can then begin your digital execution, which should support the fundamental strategic objectives of the business.

2. You need to orchestrate holistically

Digital transformation is a complex undertaking and therefore requires careful orchestration. You can’t just focus on building applications. You need to take a step back and figure out who has the capability, experience and bandwidth to conduct this digital transformation. It is important to build your transformation team with the people who can get your innovation initiatives off the ground.

It is important to consider who is managing the business benefits, who is managing the project and how it interfaces with other projects, who is ensuring that governance is embedded, and who is managing stakeholders. It is important to focus on the process and collaboration versus the technology.

3. You need to deliver value to the business

In order to get past the start phase of digital transformation and continue on to structure and scale, you must demonstrate how your digital transformation projects are delivering value to the business. One way to do this is to celebrate the success of your first project. Every big change starts small, and with success, grows. This is why it is so important to pick the right first digital transformation project. You want your first successful project to be a catalyst for additional projects.

People like to be associated with success, and when they see it they will quickly want to be a part of it. If you can deliver benefits to the business that make the CEO and CFO happy, you can win their hearts and future investment.

Three action items to start tomorrow

With these takeaways, you are ready to start on these three action items to get you started with a successful digital transformation.

Identify the strategic priorities that digital should support

Create three to five digital use cases, or mini business cases, to help achieve each strategic objective